{"id":102541,"date":"2022-02-14T20:42:12","date_gmt":"2022-02-15T01:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/?p=102541"},"modified":"2022-02-18T06:22:07","modified_gmt":"2022-02-18T11:22:07","slug":"university-of-virginia-paid-ibram-kendi-32500-for-one-hour-qa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/university-of-virginia-paid-ibram-kendi-32500-for-one-hour-qa\/","title":{"rendered":"University of Virginia paid Ibram Kendi $32,500 for one-hour Q&A"},"content":{"rendered":"

The University of Virginia paid prominent Boston University professor and “antiracist” theorist Ibram X. Kendi $32,500, or approximately $541.67 per minute, for a one-hour virtual interview open to the public, The Daily Wire<\/em> reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The public university hired Kendi through the Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau for a conference in April 2021, according to documents obtained<\/a> by The Daily Wire<\/em> through the Freedom of Information Act.<\/p>\n

Kendi appeared as part of the university’s “Racial Equity Speaker Series” with other speakers who argued America is “systemically racist.”<\/p>\n

In summer 2020, a task force at University of Virginia appointed by President Jim Ryan recommended<\/a> that UVA focus on diversity initiatives as “a central focus of leadership and governance,” one that should “pervade all decision-making.”<\/p>\n

In books like “How to be an Anti-Racist,” Kendi has redefined racism to refer to any policy that creates or maintains racial inequity — regardless of the prejudices or intentions of the people involved. For Kendi, “racist ideas follow from racist policies,” as Ezra Klein summarized<\/a> it in the New York Times<\/em>. “They are created as rationalizations for racial inequity.”<\/p>\n

Kendi’s central idea has been criticized by writers across the political spectrum. Among many other critiques, Coleman Hughes at City Journal<\/em> accused him<\/a> of making erroneous claims and cherry-picking data, and Eric Levitz at New York Magazine<\/em> stated<\/a> that Kendi’s theory “suffers from some glaring contradictions.”<\/p>\n

The College Fix<\/em> reviewed<\/a> previous speaking contracts for Kendi in March 2021 and found that the universities paid him a combined $91,500. The Fix<\/em> also estimated that Kendi had likely made at least $300,000 total from his speaking appearances up to that date.<\/p>\n

MORE: Ibram Kendi likens CRT opposition to backlash against Brown v. Board of Education desegregation case<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

IMAGE: YouTube screenshot<\/p>\n

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